plaque in dogs

peasant

We have three dogs, they all eat the same food (dry kibble)
The oldest has impeccable teeth, like a youngster. The youngest has some plaque, but not too bad and the middle one's teeth are very bad, one had to be pulled yesterday.

Now, I understand that the susceptability to plaque is very much an individual affair, some dogs get it, others don't ...but is there anything out there that helps to avoid it / make it less severe?

We have tried so far:

- brushing teeth with doggy toothpaste ...other than a very annoyed dog, I can't really see any results

- chewsticks/ pedigree bones ..they DO like them, but the plaque isn't improving

- those tooth-cleaning ropes for chewing ...not doing anything either other than lots of loose threads inside and outside of the dog

Anything else you could recommend? Any food supplements I should try?

star-pants

I too would be interested to see what people do to keep their dogs teeth clean.

We've tried all of the above and a thing called 'Plaque Off' that you put on their food.
Found the chewsticks made them worse, the rope things, well they're loved but don't appear to help, toothpaste... well that was fun trying.

Eldest dog had her teeth cleaned by the vet just over a year ago, and she's got plaque again.
Youngest we've had for almost a year and she's grand.

Blueprint

Dried tripe sticks are pretty good, they've got a nice abrasive texture. Zooplus do a lot of cool chewy things that could help I guess, I feed my dog a lot of them (tripe and dried head hide mostly) and his teeth are pretty good. But that might just be genes!

The dentastix type things are actually meant to be worse for their teeth due to the starch!

peasant

star-pants wrote: »

toothpaste... well that was fun trying.

Isn't it just?

star-pants

Aye my groomer told me that dentastix are bad for them (could have been the starch, I thought was sugar or something). So we don't give them very often at all.
Tried the rawhide stick things too, they like them.

Aye peasant, tis fun... lol
the older one you see we got from another home, so she had issues with a bunch of things, I got the pup used to us being allowed to open her mouth / have a look etc incase we had to in future instances. So she doesn't mind you having a look. Lily (older) however, does not like it at all.

Orla K

You haven't had fun until you try sorting out a cats teeth. A loud screeching noise, nails, blood and an angry ball of flying fur was in the air and that was just to have a look at them.

I haven't found anything much good (for the dogs) but there is a paste that is suppose to be good but expensive, never tried it on the dogs. I think a yearly vet clean is probably the best thing.

Also starchy food is worse for teeth than sugar because it sticks to teeth (this go's for people to, which is why crisps are worse than sugary snacks)

kylith

If getting the brush into their mouths is difficult you could always get them to brush their own teeth; http://www.petstoreshop.com/pettoothbrush I think I've seen something similar in Boardwalk Pets too.

I also use a dental Kong, I don't know how much good it does but the vet said that that they'd need their teeth done 'at some point', rather than right now.

star-pants

Aye moocat maybe I'll just have to get her teeth cleaned again at some point.

Kylith - whilst the idea is good, I think mine would have the bristles ripped out after a bit lol, rather than chew it

lrushe

Unfortunately if a dogs is prone to plaque I don't think there is a product out there that's going to help greatly, at least not one that would rival a vets clean

boardbrowser

I give my dog a raw meaty beef (leg )bone once in a while for the specific purpose of plaque removal.
The removal of plague from her premolars and molars is nothing short of remarkable after maybe an hour of chewing.
dog is almost 9 and has never had dental cleaning nor has the vet suggested it.
Canines are somewhat stained near the gums due to age but plaque free.

morganafay

I don't think that brushing will do much good if the dog already has tartar on the teeth. You have to get them cleaned at the vet and then after that brush them everyday. I know it's such a hassle to do everyday, so maybe just use the denta-stix or whatever every day instead, after the cleaning by the vet?

One of my dogs is the same, she gets tartar build up but the other two don't. She got her teeth cleaned at the vet and about 2 months later they were dirty again!

I think if the dog's jaws don't align very well then they don't get cleaned as well by chewing dry food/bones etc. Like a collie would probably have good teeth because they align properly, but a dog that's bred alot, like mine are King Charleses, might have bad teeth.

shanagarry

There is a product called Hexarinse that is essentially mouthwash for cates and dogs. It should* be a bit easier than brushing as you just need to squirt it in with a syringe and it will do it's stuff.

*Though I was using it for a cat. Lets just say that I agree with Moocat above! It was fine for the first few weeks and things went steadily downhill after that.

star-pants

morganafay wrote: »

I know it's such a hassle to do everyday, so maybe just use the denta-stix or whatever every day instead, after the cleaning by the vet?

I found the dentastix made my dogs teeth worse, apparently the starchy stuff in them isn't particularly great. Cuz they would be sticky like substance when chewed.

shanagarry wrote: »

There is a product called Hexarinse that is essentially mouthwash for cates and dogs. It should* be a bit easier than brushing as you just need to squirt it in with a syringe and it will do it's stuff.

Aye we used 'plaque off' stuff and same thing really, after the vet clean they've just slowly gotten worse. Maybe a yearly, or more, clean will have to be done.

shanagarry

star-pants wrote: »

Aye we used 'plaque off' stuff and same thing really, after the vet clean they've just slowly gotten worse. Maybe a yearly, or more, clean will have to be done.

I guess some animals are just prone to it. My cat was allergic to her plaque, so we ended up having to take all her teeth out. It is still produced, but has nothing to stick to, so she's now gummy and delighted with herself. Her mouth was raw, it was horrible and extremely painful.

peasant

Found a nylon bone with lots of little rounded noopsies at the petstore the other day. She's happily chewing away on that now. Even if it doesn't clean teeth, it will at least massage gums and possibly remove some stuck/clingy food bits.

This is it, called Nylabone



will see how that goes